The Omanhene of Assin Apimanim Traditional Area, Barima Kwame Nkyi XII, on Tuesday objected to any references to a Slave River at Assin Praso, saying such a claim is a mere twist of history.
He was reacting to the launch of programme of activities marking this year's celebration of Pan-African Theatre Historical Festival (PANAFEST) and Emancipation Day on July 10 by Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama that mentioned a visit to the Assin Praso Slave River.
"The Assin Praso Slave River is not real and that the programme must be dropped," he told the Ghana News Agency at Assin Manso. He, therefore, asked the Ministry of Tourism and the PANAFEST Secretariat not to do anything that would mar the celebrations slated for July 26 to August 1 at Assin Manso.
Barima Nkyi explained that Assin Praso was rather the frontier for British soldiers who fought and perished in the Yaa Asantewaa war in the early 1900s and were buried there.
He said African and West Indies soldiers killed in that war were also buried at a different site but stated that the two cemeteries do not have any connection at all with the commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade and therefore with the Emancipation celebrations.
"The River Pra at Assin Praso was not and has never been a 'slave river' as the Ministry of Tourism had it published in the Daily Graphic of July 10, this year."
Barima Nkyi said Assin Manso, one of the slave routes in Ghana and identified by the United Nations Development Programme, Ministry of Tourism and the World Tourism Organisation, is the adopted seat for the celebration of the Caribbean festival (Emancipation).
He said his ancestors had preserved the slave cemetery and the Slave River (Ndonkonsuo) and had been celebrating reverential ceremonies during the annual festival of the traditional area, which has been dovetailed into the Emancipation Day ceremony since its introduction in Ghana in 1998.
Barima Nkyi expressed his disapproval of the attitude of former Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nana Paddy Acheampong, when he last year included Assin Praso in the celebration.
The Omanhene said though Nana Acheampong had claimed that there were not sufficient funds for the celebration, he diverted or misapplied part of the 'insufficient funds' for unconnected purposes.
"He made me smell a rat with his disclosure that he was born at Assin Jakai...and that he wanted to sabotage the adoption of Assin Manso as Slave Route by his behaviour."
The Omanhene also expressed surprise at the strange involvement of the Chief of Jakai, Nana Owodo Asaku (Dr Kobina Erbynn) with the Ministry of Tourism in the issue, and called on him to learn the proper history of Assin Praso.
"The country has to come out with all its tourist attractions as 'more meat doesn't spoil the broth' but the exercise of identifying sites and attractions must be devoid of untruthfulness."
Barima Nkyi said since 1996 the Ministry of Tourism had not been able to develop the Slave Route Project, a potential tourist attraction, adding that "but for the Assin District Assembly, the project would have been nothing to write home about".
He said on his extensive tour of the United States during the Black History Month and Jamaica recently, he advertised Emancipation and PANAFEST extensively.
The slave route at Assin Manso, he noted, has become very popular and thousands of tourists from America and the Caribbean troop to see the site where there is the Slave River and the tombs of the re-interred enslaved Africans from New York and Jamaica.
"It would be such a shame on me and it would look as if I had lied to them about the Slave River and the cemetery for those captives who succumbed to the ordeal and were buried at the site."
Barima Nkyi expressed surprise at the Ministry of Tourism's decision to shift a major item on their programme to an extremely unconnected venue, Assin Praso Slave River, which does not exist.
He, therefore, advised the ministry to set up a research unit to study the rich history of Ghana and, through it, identify the tourist attractions that abound in the country.
"The Assin Praso Slave River is not real and the programme must be dropped and research conducted into the claims of Dr Erbynn, Chief of Praso and Assin Jakai," he added.
